1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to garment hangers. More specifically, the invention relates to molded plastic garment hangers having a rib support structure at an interface of shoulder, arm and central hook regions of the hanger.
2. Related Art
Garment hangers have been known and used for years. Historically, as shown in FIG. 1, the basic garment hanger 1 was wire or wooden having opposed shoulders 2 joined at a central hook region 3. A suspension hook 4 projects from the central hook region 3 permitting the hanger 1 to be placed on a rod or other structure for storage in a closet, for example. From the central hook region 3, the opposed shoulders 2 each extend outwardly as arms 5 terminating at opposed ends 6 thereof. The opposed ends 6 of the arms 5 are often joined by a cross-member 7 extending between the opposed ends 6 to increase the strength and stability of the hanger.
Though the strength and durability of the wooden hangers, in particular, were appealing, the increased costs and additional weight of the wooden hangers resulted in the development of less expensive and lighter weight plastic hangers, such as those disclosed in Australian Patent No. 544211 (AU-B-21403/83) or U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,045 that are commonly-owned herewith.
The arms of such molded plastic hangers tend to bend at transition regions, such as between the central hook and shoulder regions, the shoulder and arm regions, or other transition regions when heavier garments are placed on the hanger. Moreover, where less flexible material, such as general purpose polystyrene, has been used to comprise the molded plastic hangers, the transition regions may even break under heavy garment loads.
To overcome the tendency to bend or break at transition regions, arms of molded plastic hangers have been reinforced with channel inserts or I-sections placed throughout, or at various intervals over or within, the arms as described in the above-mentioned commonly-owned patents. The channel inserts or I-sections may be co-molded with, or separately inserted on or into, the arms of the hangers. In any event, incorporation of such channel inserts or I-sections throughout, or at various intervals of, the arms of the hanger increase the time and costs to manufacture such hangers.
Additionally, the co-molding or other provision of the channels or I-sections to the arms of the hangers often cause rippling or other undesirable marring of exposed surfaces of the arms of the hangers, particularly where the channels or I-sections are located only at various intervals of the arms of the hangers. Collapsing or pinching of all or portions of sidewalls of the arms of the hangers have also been found to occur in some, particularly where the channels or I-sections are provided on an external surface of the arms or are provided at various intervals on or within the arms of the hangers. Moreover, experiments have shown that the use of such channel inserts or I-sections tend still to create regions of weakness in the hanger. The weak regions render the hangers susceptible to bending or breaking as before, particularly at the transition region between the central hook and shoulder regions, when the hanger experiences heavy loads.
Further efforts to overcome the tendency to bend or break at transition regions include co-molding U-shaped channels or depressions in an external surface of the central hook region of the hanger, whereat the shoulders converge as shown in the commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,045 discussed above, for example. The external channels or depressions are intentionally isolated from the channels of the arms, however, which renders the hangers susceptible to twisting. Such twisting can result in bending or breaking of the hanger as well.
In view of the above, a need exists for an easily and inexpensively manufactured molded plastic garment hanger having increased strength and durability at the interface of the central hook, shoulder and arm regions of the hanger.